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Katherine gorge looking upstream to
the first gorge
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Johnson River (freshwater) crocodile -
Katherine Gorge
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The day started on the Katherine River with a cruise and finished at Daly Waters at a campdraft - a day of contrasts.
The cruise was quite amazing as we were able to see the gorge close up and experience the breathtaking beauty. We also saw our first crocodile in the wild - a freshwater one so some may say we still haven't seen a real one - but this was close enough and wild enough for us. Also on the cruise we went past Jedda's Rock - which featured in Charles Chauvel's movie of the same name. Quite fascinating.
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| Katherine Chasm |
Katherine Chasm is the location of the NT tourism campaign some years ago with Darryl Somers (that is going back a number of years) floating down the gorge on an inner tube saying "you'll never, never know if you never, never go".
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| Lace curtains in Cutta Cutta caves |
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| Flow stone - Cutta Cutta |
After Katherine Gorge we dashed down the road to Cutta Cutta caves to meet up with Ethan for what turned out to be a private tour of the caves - just so happened we were the only ones present for the 1pm tour.
He was a great tour guide and it was interesting to compare these caves with others that we have toured in Tasmania and South Australia. These caves are much warmer and also drier as they are only really wet during the wet season when they flood.
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| WWII bullet damage to formations |
During WWII the troops based around Katherine used the caves as their personal playground, even using the formations as target practice with their rifles which you can still see with the ends of stalactites shot off. The stalactites have continued to grow but you can see how slowly they form when you consider the end of WWII was nearly 70 years ago.
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| The girls at Daly Waters campdraftt |
We pulled in the Daly Waters Campdraft ground in the late afternoon to find a spot reserved for us next to the Haines family's impressive setup. Horses were yarded, the truck had been converted into the accommodation and the girls were getting ready to saddle up and head down for some precompetition practice. We were surrounded by hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of horses and equipment. This is one expensive hobby, but they are passionate about it. Even though it was hot and very dusty and noisy, it was great to get the opportunity to live what we hear about from Alison so often. The dusk was really quite beautiful, with the red dust hanging in the air as the sun went down.We watched a road train arrive and the weaners for the draft be unloaded which was interesting for us city slickers! The sounds of horses, cattle and generators provided an unusual lullaby as we finally went to bed.
Things got moving early this morning as Thomas, my brother-in-law, was competing at 7.00am. The girls were up and ready to head down help round up the drafted cattle at the end of each run. They don't compete until tomorrow. Watching those little girls on those big horses was very impressive and they have a great routine before and after each ride. It was a great experience to be there, even for a little while.
So today, we covered another 1000km in this big country as we crossed back over the Barkly, which is definitely not as interesting the second time around! It did seem drier, a month later, but that may be because we have just come from the tropical north. We pulled into Mt Isa on dusk and have set up and eaten in record time, ready for our trip on the Flinder's Highway via Julia Creek, Maxwelton and Richmond to Hughenden tomorrow.
Love to all
S & E
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